Poverty and Wealth Reporting of the German Government: Approach, Lessons and Critique

The Capability Approach has been adopted as a theoretical framework for official Poverty and Wealth Reports by the German government. For the first time, this paper provides information on the use of the Capability Approach in this reporting process to international readers. We show the background and processes that might have led the government to adopt Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach as a framework for the reports and describe the Capability-related structure and main contents of the recent 3rd Poverty and Wealth Report. We also explain why the extension of the Capability Approach from poverty to wealth issues in German reports may be promising also for analyses of capability deprivation in general. Finally, we discuss major shortcoming and challenges of the reporting and end with a brief conclusion.capability approach, poverty, wealth, affluent countries, Amartya Sen

Labor market integration of refugees in Germany: Employers’ experiences and consequences

In the light of a recent surge of refugee migration to Germany, labor market integration as well as employers’ experiences and consequences are key determinants of immigration’s macroeconomic welfare impacts. Our contribution aims at analyzing recent empirical evidence of employers’ expectations, obstacles, consequences and benefits as well as strategies to strengthen refugees’ labor market inclusion. To achieve these goals, we first sketch potential negative and positive short- and long-run macroeconomic immigration effects on host countries like Germany and the decisive role of refugees’ labor market integration in this respect. Then, employers’ expectations and obstacles of refugee employment are discussed. Furthermore, employers’ overall experiences, their engagement in hiring refugees and the resulting employment status of refugees in Germany are reconsidered. Based on secondary quantitative research and qualitative findings, we argue that refugees’ labor market situation may change in the future, particularly as female refugees frequently adopt considerably higher employment aspirations in Germany compared to their countries of origin, in which they have often been restrained by diverse obstacles. We finally analyze and discuss major ways to improve refugees’ labor market perspectives in general, and for female refugees specifically

Sustainable Human Development: Corporate Challenges and Potentials the Case of Bayer CropScience's Cotton Seed Production in Rural Karnataka (India)

This paper aims to explore concepts, methods and empirical results of potential impacts of Transnational Corporations (TNC) on Sustainable Human Development (SHD) in emerging market countries. In doing so, a further major goal is to explain, illustrate and discuss how the theoretical CA framework used in the GeNECA project2 can be applied to corporate SHD impacts. Our findings are based on the case of Bayer CropScience’s Model Village Project in rural Karnataka, India. To achieve our goals, we first establish a theoretical framework for assessing corporate impacts on SHD to capture SHD effects. Thereafter, we introduce the case of Bayer CropScience’s seed production in rural India, for which a “Model Village Project (MVP)” has been established to explore ways, potentials and challenges of promoting SHD of the villagers and corporate goals in a win-win-strategy. Afterwards, we explain methodological requirements, our representative database for the quantitative analyses, and the qualitative methods that we use for project evaluation. Based on findings of the authors’ external evaluation of the MVP, we discuss the baseline situation in the model villages with respect to corporate potentials, challenges and limitations to foster SHD impacts. Methodologically, we find the combination of quantitative representative methods and qualitative assessments to be most effective to capture corporate potentials and risks. Furthermore it turns out to be promising to extend the analyses beyond standardized benchmarks like the MDGs. We show that major determinants of SHD established in the paper result in a portfolio of corporate opportunities and risks. For instance, the reality of underemployment in the model villages provides specific corporate opportunities like an abundant pool of labor supply. However, it also produces corporate risks, e.g. lack of capital available for necessary investment by suppliers who frequently suffer from poverty, risk of over-indebtedness and a resulting inability to accumulate enough capital and to raise productivity. In the comprehensive opportunity and riskportfolio of this Bayer CropScience case, we find abundant potential business cases which we discuss further in the text. We conclude that corporate potentials as well as risks of corporate neglect and violations of people-centered SHD also depend on how much the villagers are enabled and empowered to make most of their agency as individuals and as groups. Furthermore, it depends on trust building as a prerequisite of awareness raising of the villagers themselves, so that they are willing and able to participate successfully in the undertaken procedures

Cytochrome P450 2B6 (CYP2B6) and constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) polymorphisms are associated with early discontinuation of efavirenz-containing regimens

Objectives Cytochrome P450 2B6 (CYP2B6) is responsible for the metabolic clearance of efavirenz and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CYP2B6 gene are associated with efavirenz pharmacokinetics. Since the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and the pregnane X receptor (PXR) correlate with CYP2B6 in liver, and a CAR polymorphism (rs2307424) and smoking correlate with efavirenz plasma concentrations, we investigated their association with early (<3 months) discontinuation of efavirenz therapy. Methods Three hundred and seventy-three patients initiating therapy with an efavirenz-based regimen were included (278 white patients and 95 black patients; 293 male). DNA was extracted from whole blood and genotyping for CYP2B6 (516G → T, rs3745274), CAR (540C → T, rs2307424) and PXR (44477T → C, rs1523130; 63396C → T, rs2472677; and 69789A → G, rs763645) was conducted. Binary logistic regression using the backwards method was employed to assess the influence of SNPs and demographics on early discontinuation. Results Of the 373 patients, 131 withdrew from therapy within the first 3 months. Black ethnicity [odds ratio (OR) = 0.27; P = 0.0001], CYP2B6 516TT (OR = 2.81; P = 0.006), CAR rs2307424 CC (OR = 1.92; P = 0.007) and smoking status (OR = 0.45; P = 0.002) were associated with discontinuation within 3 months. Conclusions These data indicate that genetic variability in CYP2B6 and CAR contributes to early treatment discontinuation for efavirenz-based antiretroviral regimens. Further studies are now required to define the clinical utility of these association

Beschaeftigungshemmende Reformstaus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und wie man sie aufloesen koennte

Ulrich Wagner fordert in dem ueberarbeiteten Vortrag 'Beschaeftigungshemmende Reformstaus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und wie man sie aufloesen koennte' radikale wirtschafts-, sozial- und rechtspolitische Reformschritte, u.a. die Entmachtung der Gewerkschaften, Beschneidung des Kuendigungsschutzes, Abschaffung von Mitbestimmungsregelungen und Oekosteuer sowie drastische Steuersenkungen. Daneben wird das Streikrecht zur Disposition gestellt. Im Vortrag 'Flexibilisierung durch Kombi-Einkommen?' diskutiert Juergen Volkert im Zusammenhang mit den deutschen Versuchen im Bereich der kombinierten Arbeits- und Transfereinkommen (Kombi-Einkommen) hemmende Faktoren: Mit dem Instrumentarium der Neuen politischen Oekonomie lasse sich zeigen, dass politische Entscheidungstraeger und die Sozialverwaltung ein starkes Interesse an der Aufrechterhaltung der traditionellen Instrumente der Arbeitsmarktpolitik haben. (IAB2)SIGLEAvailable from IAB-90-0DE0-309000 BN 017 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Growing Pains at Hospitals: Opportunities and Issues of Service Expansion in Maximum Care

PurposeDue to the demographic change morbidity raises the demand for medical hospital services as well as a need for medical specialization, while economic and human resources are diminishing. Unlike other industries hospitals do not have sufficient data and adequate models to relate growing demands and increasing performance to growth in staff capacity and to increase in staff competences.MethodBased on huge medical data sample covering the years from 2010 to 2014 with more than 150,000 operations of the Department for Anesthesiology at the University Hospital Muenster, Germany, comparisons are drawn between the development of medical services and the development of personnel capacity and expertise.ResultsThe numbers of surgical operations increased by 21% and “skin incision to closure” time by 17%. Simultaneously, personnel capacity grew by 16% largely resting upon recruiting first-time employees. Expertise measured as “years of professional experience” dwindled from 10 years to 5.4 years on average and staff turnover accelerated.ConclusionStatic benchmark data collected at fixed reference dates do not sufficiently reflect the nexus between capacity and competence and do not reflect the dynamic changes in a hospital’s requirements for expertise and specialization, at all. Staff turnover leads to a loss of experience, which jeopardizes patient safety and hampers medical specialization. In consequence of the dramatic shortage of medical specialists, drop-off rates must be reduced and retention rates must be increased. To that end, working conditions need to be fundamentally converted for a multigeneration, multicultural, and increasingly female workforce

Growing Pains at Hospitals: Opportunities and Issues of Service Expansion in Maximum Care

Purpose Due to the demographic change morbidity raises the demand for medical hospital services as well as a need for medical specialization, while economic and human resources are diminishing. Unlike other industries hospitals do not have sufficient data and adequate models to relate growing demands and increasing performance to growth in staff capacity and to increase in staff competences. Method Based on huge medical data sample covering the years from 2010 to 2014 with more than 150,000 operations of the Department for Anesthesiology at the University Hospital Muenster, Germany, comparisons are drawn between the development of medical services and the development of personnel capacity and expertise. Results The numbers of surgical operations increased by 21% and “skin incision to closure” time by 17%. Simultaneously, personnel capacity grew by 16% largely resting upon recruiting first-time employees. Expertise measured as “years of professional experience” dwindled from 10 years to 5.4 years on average and staff turnover accelerated. Conclusion Static benchmark data collected at fixed reference dates do not sufficiently reflect the nexus between capacity and competence and do not reflect the dynamic changes in a hospital’s requirements for expertise and specialization, at all. Staff turnover leads to a loss of experience, which jeopardizes patient safety and hampers medical specialization. In consequence of the dramatic shortage of medical specialists, drop-off rates must be reduced and retention rates must be increased. To that end, working conditions need to be fundamentally converted for a multigeneration, multicultural, and increasingly female workforce

Einstiegsgeld in Baden-Wuerttemberg Schlussbericht

Die Autoren ziehen eine Bilanz ueber die Ergebnisse des Modellversuchs 'Einstiegsgeld in Baden-Wuerttemberg', der am 31. August 2002 endete und als erster Modellversuch zur Erprobung finanzieller Anreizinstrumente in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zu betrachten ist. Durch das Projekt galt es insbesondere herauszufinden, inwieweit der Abbau der 'Sozialhilfefalle' zu positiven Beschaeftigungseffekten fuehren kann. Voraussetzung fuer die Durchfuehrung des Modellversuchs war die Experimentierklausel nach Par. 18 Abs. 5 Bundessozialhilfegesetz (BSHG), die eine zeitlich befristete geringere Anrechnung von Erwerbseinkommen der Hilfeempfaenger bei Arbeitsaufnahme ermoeglicht. Am Modellversuch beteiligten sich die Staedte Freiburg, Karlsruhe und Mannheim sowie die Landkreise Alb-Donau, Boeblingen, Esslingen, Rhein-Neckar, Tuebingen und Waldshut. Mit der Entscheidung zu Gunsten des Einstiegsgeldes und dessen Einfuehrung im Jahre 1999 hat Baden-Wuerttemberg in Deutschland eine Vorreiterposition bei der Entwicklung von Anreizinstrumenten zur vermehrten Arbeitsmarktintegration von Sozialhilfeempfaengern erlangt. Im vorliegenden Abschlussbericht werden die Konzeption und Erfahrungen beschrieben, eine Bilanz ueber die Einfuehrung des Einstiegsgeldes in den einzelnen Staedten bzw. Landkreisen wird gezogen, Ueberlegungen zur Durchfuehrung von Modellversuchen werden angestellt und das Einstiegsgeldes wird mit anderen Modellen verglichen. (ICI2)SIGLEAvailable from UuStB Koeln(38)-20030106286 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman